The Murray River Tourist Information
The Murray River Tourist Information
Deniliquin
Deniliquin is full of stories and relics of its colourful past. Ben Boyd took up a run here in 1845 and named the place after a local Aboriginal leader who was a mighty wrestler. It is ghost country too. The headless horseman rode the plains of the Riverina frightening travellers during the days of coaching. The other local ghost is Inebriated Old Jack, once a member of Captain Melville's gang of bushrangers, who met an unfortunate and painful end in what is now the island sanctuary in the centre of town.
The Deniliquin area was of immense importance in the development of the wool trade. It was here that the Peppin family bred a bigger framed merino (immortalised in a bronze statue), a bloodline that could stand up to harsh country and enabled the rest of Australia to live off the sheep's back. You will stand in the heart of Australia's big sky country and marvel at the incredible beauty that encapsulates earth and sky.
The Peppin Heritage Centre in the old school buildings is one of the 10 top museums in New South Wales. It has exhibits showing how the Kooris lived in harmony with the rivers. The schoolroom has the original school desks and bush organ and the magnificent Ram Shed and yards are thatched and made of Cypress Pine and Red Gum.
One of the most moving and important exhibits is about the struggle for water in the pioneering days. This is an outdoor museum too. Sheepdogs show their skill in the courtyard where you can learn what the Sydney Flash and the Helicopter mean in whipcracking circles.
A much newer industry is rice growing. Deniliquin's Rice Mill is the largest in the southern hemisphere; its district produces 42 per cent of Australia's rice and in doing so provides an unusually beautiful landscape of water and sweeping contour banks. Little wonder Asian visitors are overwhelmed by the magnitude of rice growing on the Australian scale.
At Easter during the Jazz Festival (now in its 16th year) the old boilers are lit, there is a smell of steam and of burning gum as the machines get a chance to blow off steam just like the jazz musicians.
Deniliquin is for holidays. It offers one supremely important ingredient for the perfect holiday - 3,100 hours of sunshine a year, a chance to laze on the beaches, do some fishing and recharge the batteries in a warm, embracing atmosphere. And above all experience the legend of Australia's plains by immersing yourself in the history of the town's rich, pastoral heritage.
